Harceisis
by Grav
Summary: While on Abydos, Daniel uncovers something he did not expect. Another child, another chance.
1. Memorial

AN: This is the most extensive story I have ever written. I consulted more sources than I did for all the papers I wrote during my second year of University. It kept me up late at night and woke me up early in the morning. I loved and hated it alternately. There's enough behind the scenes information to write an appendix or two.

And it all comes from one day at work when no one came into the store for four hours, and I said to myself, "You know, if the Goa'uld are genetically evil, why are there Tok'ra?". And then it was off to the races.

Thanks to soclose, who betaed, and put up with months of my coming on MSN and spamming her with various tidbits of ancient culture and modern genetics.

Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate. I don't even own action figures. Wait. There are action figures? Where do I get them?

Spoilers: I started keeping a list of episodes. And then I lost it. So off the top of my head and in no particular order, Absolute Power, Heroes, Chimera, The Curse, Need, Cure, Secrets, Crossroads, Seth, Forever in a Day, Full Circle, The Lost City II, probably Thor's Hammer if we're being picky, um, I think that's it. Oh, and the Movie.

A Note About The Universe

This universe has the following parameters:

1.Anubis is dead, Jack is fine

2.None of the season eight promotions have taken place

3.Janet is dead

4.Hammond is in charge

5.The 'Gate on Abydos is gone, but the foundations of the pyramid are still more or less (likely less) intact.

6.The Tok'ra still have their alliance with Earth

And I think that pretty much covers it. On to the good stuff!

..................

**Memorial**

I was different.

I did not know how and I did not know why, but as soon as I woke up enough to know, I knew.

I also knew that in my difference was great danger. Some small voice inside me warned that I must conceal myself from my kin so that I would survive.

And so, when they brought The Girl before me, weeping in her terror, I leapt into her throat with only a moment's repulsed hesitation. And I marveled at our union, for suddenly I felt things unlike anything I had ever imagined. I realized how indebted I was to The Girl who carried me, and I comforted her as best I could. She was quick minded, and realized immediately how important we were.

We grew. And we heard of the Taur'i, where Ra held dominion. It was from this planet that slaves and hosts were brought to do our bidding. So we journeyed their and joined the service of Ra.

We became Anukis, mistress of the Nile, and guardian of women in childbirth. It was the perfect place to hide. We could pretend to be relentless and uncaring, but we were able to do good.

And from the inside out, we rotted the fruit.

..................

Jack once asked him why he always went on his wedding day. Sam had unobtrusively elbowed the Colonel in the side, and Jack had apologized profusely, but Daniel had understood. He visited her grave on their wedding day because it was a date he was sure of. He remembered everything about that day from how nervous he was to how crazy it all felt, to the fire in her eyes, to the pure and unadulterated joy that coursed through him at the conclusion of the ceremony.

He was less clear on the date of her death. Was it the day Ammonet took her? The day he delivered the baby? The day Teal'c shot her to save his life? No, it was easier to remember the day they were married. It hurt less that way.

Every year since that awful day when he had lost her, Daniel would manufacture some excuse to go back to Abydos for their anniversary. His ideas grew increasingly spurious, but his mission plans were always approved.

The first four years had been completely normal. The fifth year, his grief had been real and he had not. After the Abydos gate was destroyed, and the Stargate was no longer means of transport there, Daniel had grieved that he would never again walk on the sands of the planet that had become his home.

And then a miracle had happened. Much to the surprise of Sergeant Davis, the Gate had begun to dial itself out. By the time the second chevron had been encoded, Davis knew where it was going. By the time the fourth chevron had encoded, he remembered the date, and by the time the sixth chevron had been encoded, the entire SG-1 team was standing behind him, holding their breaths. Then, the seventh chevron had locked and the wormhole kawooshed into existence.

Colonel O'Neill did not get further than "Permission" before Hammond had said "Granted", and SG-1 had set out. Exactly one year later, the whole process repeated itself. The SG-1 team would go through the Gate and set up camp in the ruined pyramid. Then, Daniel would make some excuse to go for a walk by himself, and Jack would let him go. There was nothing left on Abydos, after all.

So it was that on the eighth anniversary of his wedding, Daniel Jackson placed a single white rose on the grave of his wife. The desiccated husks of the previous roses had disappeared. The heat and extreme dryness of Abydos might preserve organic matter, but the wind carried away the dried out remains with utmost ease.

"Sleep well, my love," said Daniel, and he set his hand upon her tombstone.

He felt an odd lurch in his stomach and automatically looked down at the sand around his feet. When he looked up, Sha're was standing there before him. She smiled, and extended her hand. Without thinking, Daniel stepped forward and took it, unheeding of the solid matter through which he had just passed.

"Come, my husband." Sha're said, and led him off into the Abydonian desert.

Daniel did not know where he was, except in the most general sense, but he followed his wife as she trod lightly over the sand. If his mind had not been asleep, he might have noticed that neither of them were leaving footprints, and that the sun had disappeared from the sky.

Then, Daniel found himself in a cave, and Sha're's hand was gone from his. She stood about six feet ahead of him and pointed to the walls. Daniel looked around him and saw on the walls the pictures that he and Sha're had first used to communicate. He followed her finger along the wall, past the broken cartouche. He squinted, but the torch Sha're wasn't carrying guttered out and he plunged into blackness.

"Sha're?" he called, voice quaking with longing, "Sha're!"

"Daniel Jackson, to whom are you speaking?"

Daniel's head snapped up. The bright sunlight gleamed around Teal'c's head. Daniel blinked and realized that he was on his knees before Sha're's grave marker. He took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. It had been so real. . .

"I had a memory, Teal'c." Daniel squared his shoulders and stood up. "Come on, I need to talk to Sam."

..................

"Are you sure it's in here?" Sam Carter asked, not quite succeeding in keeping her doubts from her voice.

"No, No I am not," Daniel replied through his teeth. He didn't look up at her, but continued to drag his trowel along the base of the cave wall.

"Daniel, I'm not sensing an naquadah, and you know these caves like the back of your hand. What if there's nothing here?"

"If there's nothing here, than what was the vision for?"

"Heatstroke?"

This time he did glare at her.

"There is something here. I can feel it."

"Daniel - "

"It defies the laws of physics that we're here at all, Sam. What's a vision or two added to the mix?" She hated it when the irrational things had reasons, but the man made a valid point.

Sam stood up, much to the protestation of her calf muscles, and walked towards the cave entrance. She hadn't spent as much time on Abydos as the others had, and she had never been to this particular cave before, having spent most of her time in the pyramid and the cartouche room. Jack had told her that this was where Daniel had found Earth's address all those years ago. He hadn't come right out and said it, but Sam got the impression that something else very important had happened to Daniel in that cave. And she was pretty sure that if it was any of her business, Daniel would have already told her.

She watched Daniel as he too stood in frustration and went to stand by the broken cartouche. He slid his hands down the carvings which they all had committed to memory, and knelt to run his fingers along the broken edge. As soon as his knees hit the cave floor, he knew where he was going. He hadn't kept hold of his trowel, but he knew he wouldn't need it.

_I never fit the pieces together,_ He realized. _I was so devastated and frustrated that the glyph had worn off, I never even thought to put the two pieces together_.

The broken piece of rock still lay at the foot of the cartouche it belonged to. The people of Abydos had great reverence for these caves, and few other than Daniel, Sha're and Skarra had ever come here. Daniel picked up the worn glyph and turned it in his hands until the broken edges were lined up. Miraculously, neither of the two edges seemed worn now that Daniel was looking at them closely.

He looked up at Sam, who had come to stand behind him when he excitement had become apparent and smiled. Then, with sure hands, he fit the two pieces together.

There was an audible click, and Sam reflexively Daniel away from the wall which elicited a sharp cry from the suddenly overbalanced archaeologist. The noise brought Teal'c and Jack running into the cave, where the sight that met their eyes stopped them in their tracks. As SG-1 watched in awe, the cartouche that bore Earth's address detached itself from the wall, turned 180 degrees in seeming midair, and fit itself back into its niche.

Daniel was the first to break the tableau. He pulled himself free of Sam and got to his feet. Slowly, he reached a hand out to touch the seamless mending of the wall. Sam joined him, and he stepped back a bit to get a better look at the inscription.

"Is that what I think it is?" Jack asked, lowering his gun.

"I think so, sir," Sam replied. "It's an address, but I don't recognize the origin chevron."

"No more do I, Major Carter," Teal'c added. "That symbol is unknown to Jaffa."

"It looks a bit like a hockey stick," Jack said, squinting at the cartouche.

"It's more than that, Teal'c," Daniel said, completely ignoring Jack in his excitement. "Come look at the symbols on the border."

Teal'c quirked an eyebrow and joined Daniel at the cartouche.

"I believe it is a warning, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said. "But I cannot translate it into sensible English."

"Could you guess?"

"Only that it advises the reader not to examine teeth."

"What the hell does that mean?" Jack demanded.

Daniel and Sam exchanged a glance, and Sam wordlessly handed over the digital camera.

"It means that we aren't done with Abydos yet, Jack. I means we still have puzzles to solve."


	2. Osiris' Memories

**Osiris' Memories**

We were particularly proud of our plan for Isis. It was hard to spawn offspring individually instead of in a large group, but the manipulation of memory we performed would have been needlessly complicated if there had been more than one larva. When she was done, we knew we had done well.

It was dangerous for us here now. But when Ra smelled a rat, he looked for one. He never once thought that poor, powerless Anukis would cause him trouble, so we never crossed his mind. And we took precautions to ensure that we never did.

Isis grew, and her memories drew her to the one called Osiris. He was cruel, but she endured, because we kept her strong. There were two others, Seth and Nephthys, that they were close to. But everyone knew that Nephthys hated Seth above all others, and desired Osiris. The pot stood simmering on the fire.

And Nephthys seduced Osiris, and drew him from Isis, and my daughter knew the Time had come. For in his dalliance with Nephthys, Osiris had awoken in Seth great jealousy, and made him an enemy.

And as we had hoped, Ra himself stepped in to play.

....................................

The satisfactory noise that his pen always made when he hurled it across the room in frustration was drowned out by the ringing of his phone. For the briefest of moments, he was tempted to send the phone after the pen, but common sense prevailed.

"Jackson...... Who?......Never mind, I heard you the first time......Well, it's kind of a reflex......Of course! Have someone bring her to my lab......Oh, she's got clearance......Yes, I''ll be here......Thank you." Airmen!

Daniel looked around his lab and realized that he wasn't exactly ready for company. Every note he'd ever taken on the Goa'uld letter system was scattered haphazardly on every available surface, weighted down here and there by long abandoned coffee cups. The chalk boards were covered in glyphs that made as little sense now as they had two weeks ago, and his computer had so many files running for cross-referencing that he was surprised it hadn't spontaneously combusted in protest. Oh well. It wasn't like she'd never seen a lab before.

It was harder talking with Sarah Gardner than he ever let anyone know. He was genuinely fond of her, moreover, in some odd, Goa'uld inflicted way, he loved her. But every time he saw her, she remembered that Sarah had been saved and Sha're had not. Sarah had needed him badly those first few weeks after they'd caught Osiris. It had been a lot to deal with, and he had gotten her through it. There were still nights when his phone rang at three o'clock in the morning and he listened while she cried. If she was troubled enough to actually come to Colorado, it must be bad.

Daniel was surprised then at the calm, pulled together woman who walked through his doorway. He nodded dismissal at her SF escort, and tried desperately to think of something to say. Sarah faced him across his overflowing lab bench and placed a single silver necklace on top of the papers.

"I've a puzzle for you, Daniel." So much for small talk.

"Um, really? Uh, how are you?"

"I'm fine, Daniel," she smiled. "I have a student who graduates at the end of this term. She's an absolute genius, and Stephen and I have been pulling every string we can think of to get her to stay in Chicago for her Masters, but she's set on Edinburgh."

Daniel wasn't sure what, if anything, he was supposed to say, so he gestured to an empty chair, and took one himself.

"I had her into my office to chat yesterday," Sarah took the seat. "I've been desperate. Anyway, I noticed her necklace and asked if I could see it. She was very reluctant to give it up, I finally convinced her. When she left, I had a good look at it."

Daniel reached out and picked up the pendant in his hand, bringing it up to his face to look at it. It was a silver disc with a black border Daniel was pretty sure was obsidian. The craftsmanship was exquisite. In the centre of the disc, was a cartouche.

"I'm at a loss, Daniel," Sarah said. "It's an address, origin Earth, but Osiris has no memory of where it goes."

Daniel's jaw dropped, his expression falling into one Sarah recognized as ''brew coffee, long night ahead''.

"And I can't remember what the symbols mean. Or, I can't translate them anyway. But I feel really weird when I look at it."

Daniel remained frozen for approximately two more seconds, and then he stood up abruptly, knocking over his chair. He turned to his desk and rifled through the papers he found there until he produced his pictures of the cartouche from Abydos. Sarah, distracted by the sudden flurry of movement, finally looked at the blackboards, and her eyes widened. Before she could voice her questions, however, Daniel was back at the table, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

"Look!" He pushed the pictures at her. "Except for the origin chevron, they're identical."

"But what does it mean?"

"I have no idea."

....................................

"So you're telling me that symbols like you found on Abydos showed up here on Earth?" Hammond asked incredulously, fiddling with the file folder in front of him.

"Yes, General Hammond," Sarah said.

"How are we supposed to find out what they say?" Jack demanded. "Visit the planet?"

"No," Hammond said shortly. "We're not flying blind into this one."

"I hate to suggest this, but why don't we ask the Tok'ra?" Daniel said reluctantly. "I mean, it could be a code or something."

"I don't know about that, sir," Sam chimed in. "I've been running the symbols through every decryption programme I can get my hands on. As far as I can tell, it's not a code."

"Should we not use all of the means at our disposal?" Teal'c asked. Jack sighed.

"General, even if the Tok'ra can't help with the letters, they might be able to go through Osiris' memories. See if he remembers anything." Sarah stiffened at Daniel's suggestion.

"Dr. Gardner," Hammond began.

"I'll do it," Sarah cut in. "If Osiris can do any good, I'll do it."

"Major Carter, Dr. Jackson, signal the Tok'ra."

....................................

"Selmak is the oldest. She'd remember if anyone did. I'm sorry, Sam," Jacob said. "Still, I get the oddest feeling that I am missing something really obvious."

"That's OK dad, maybe the memories will turn something up."

"Is Dr. Jackson able to work the memory device?"

"I've given him a crash course. He'll be able to ask he right questions and that's half the battle. There'll be a technician standing by."

"I'm always nervous when you people play with technology."

"Careful, dad. Your prejudices are showing."

Jacob Carter laughed. "Come on, Sam. Let's go to the Commissary. Selmak's taken a liking to maple syrup and you can't really get that anywhere else in the galaxy."

....................................

"Okay, Sarah, I need you to concentrate." Daniel spoke very calmly. "Let Osiris' memories come. Don't fight them."

Sarah relaxed in her chair and furrowed her brow in concentration, which slightly aggravated the pain at her temple. A series of images flashed before her closed eyes.

"Oh God." _Dr. Jordan, the curator, the technician_. "Stephen......"

"Not there Sarah!" Daniel interrupted sharply and the images disappeared. "You have to go farther back."

"It''s dark. And I can't move!"

"Farther back, Sarah. Before the canopic jar."

"There were four of us, and we all hated each other." Sarah''s voice deepened and Daniel started. "My queen was proud and not afraid of Ra. Seth was weak and ambitious. He would sell his allegiance to anyone. Nephthys wanted everything and would do anything to get it. She sought me."

"Was Isis jealous?" Egyptian mythology had always given him goose bumps. To find out the bits of it that were controlled by the Goa'uld gave him a full out case of the willies.

"No. She was too proud to be jealous. I spurned Nephthys, but Seth was angry that his wife would seduce me. Ra was gone and I began to mass my strength, but Seth betrayed me. He had a dinner party, and killed me before the wine was drunk."

"Was there a sarcophagus?"

"I was a little busy being dead at the time!" It was no end of weird to hear Sarah's sense of humour in the voice of the demon that had possessed her.

"Think!"

"Yes! Yes there must have been. Isis and Nephthys must have put me in it, because when I woke up they were there and I still had the same body."

"Then what happened?"

"Seth came and put me in that damn jar!"

"Sarah, you must be missing something. Please, you have to think. What did Isis do?"

"I can't, Daniel!" It was Sarah, not Osiris, who spoke. "He's too real."

Daniel bit his lip and knelt in front of her. He took her hands in his.

"Osiris is gone, Sarah. You watched the autopsy. We burnt the remains ourselves. On the mountain, remember?" She nodded. "He's gone, just a shadow in your memory, and you have to flush him out."

"Isis came to me," Sarah continued after a few minutes. "She opened the sarcophagus a bit too early. I was alive and aware, but unable to act. Nephthys came afterwards, and there was a fight. Isis fled. For almost a year, I hid from Ra and Seth in Nephthys' house, and then she too betrayed me. Seth came and brought me to his palace. Isis was there too. They wanted her to tell them where she'd hidden something, but she refused, even under torture. The last thing I remember is being pulled from my host and forced into the jar."

"Are you sure?"

"No. Nephthys said something to me, full of spite, before I was entombed."

"What?"

"She said 'This is your punishment, my brother. For what you and your whore have done. Know that we will find him and kill him.' ; 'Who?' I demanded, and she replied, voice dripping with malice, 'The child. The boy. The one they call Harceisis.'"


	3. Legends Born

**Legends Born**

Isis knew her time had come. The boy was born healthy and human and full of memory. Her own memories led her to me, poor, small Anukis, minor of all the 'gods'. Without knowing why, she trusted me, she gave me her sons and we added "Protector of Kings" to our unwanted godhead. And then she left to meet her fate.

As reward, we condemned our beloved Isis to living entombment, but she understood. Her legacy would live on in the boy.

The boy grew and Ra became troubled. For the Taur'i had begun to think for themselves and Ra's grip on their world was weakened.

Legends began to spread of a King descended from the gods who would come and free his people, and we did nothing to dissuade them. Harceisis, legend called him, 'Son of Isis'. We called him Horus because it attracted less attention.

In Ra's final retreat from the Taur'i, we saw at last the beginnings of our salvation. But he commanded Seth to remain behind and told him his life was worthless if he left without proof of the Harceisis' death.

And the gateway was buried and sealed and we were trapped with Seth on this world. And even as the last rocks were put in place, the legends began to fade.

But there are legends and then, there are legends.

------

Daniel hit his head against his desk. He didn't have any pens within arm's reach, and pencils just weren't the same. A cup of coffee materialized at his elbow and he started to reach for it, but stopped.

"What? asked Sarah.

"Nothing, Daniel said, taking a sip. "It's just, the last time you offered me coffee while I was stuck on a translation..."

"Right," Sarah said quietly. "You know, I wonder if Halleigh knows what it says."

"Halleigh?"

"Oh, my student. She said its been in her family for generations."

"There are Goa'uld symbols, Sarah."

"I know that. But we're at a dead end here, Daniel. If she knows anything..."

"Call her." Daniel gestured to the phone.

Sarah reached for the receiver just as the phone rang and she pulled back to let Daniel answer.

"Jackson...Oh, hi Sam...It's how old?...My god...Yeah, thanks...Give us a minute. I'll call you back."

Sarah looked at him expectantly as he replaced the receiver.

"We were right. The border is made of obsidian, and Sam senses a bit of naquadah, what made you feel weird, in the silver. My guess is that the naquadah is what kept the silver in such good condition."

"She dated the obsidian?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah." Daniel replied. "I didn't even know we had the equipment to do that here. She probably built one from scratch. Anyway, the last time any tool retouched the surface of the pendant was approximately 10,000 years ago."

"Same as the key and the jars."

"Still think your Halleigh'll know what it says?"

"It's all we've got, Daniel."

"I don't think this is the kind of thing we should do over the phone. I'll talk to Hammond and find out how much we can tell her, and we'll go to Chicago ourselves."

------

Halleigh Madisen truly loved archaeology. On days like these, though, when the sun shone and the temperature was pleasant and she was chained to her desk studying for exams, she wondered why. She kept telling herself that she just had to get through this and then she would be off to a place where it had the decency to rain during the examination period. That helped. A little.

Her telephone rang, and she welcomed the distraction. There was only so much pottery she could take in an afternoon.

"Hello, Halleigh speaking...Oh, hello Dr. Gardner...Oh, just pots...Yes, fascinating." She giggled. Pottery chronology might be absolutely necessary, but that didn't make it any less tedious. "Um, your office?...Half an hour?...Yes, I'll be there."

Halleigh replaced the receiver and furrowed her brow. Dr. Gardner sounded terribly excited about something, and Halleigh couldn't for the life of her think what it might be. Probably some new reason to add to the list of why she should stay in Chicago instead of going abroad. Her curiosity firmly piqued, Halleigh got herself in order and headed to the university campus. She made her way to the archaeology building and followed the familiar path up the stairs.

She recognized immediately the man who sat in Dr. Gardner's office. He was the infamous Dr. Daniel Jackson: brilliant mind, whacked out theories, and a penchant for dropping off the face of the planet. Her classmates often joked that she would end up like that. It was one of the reasons she was leaving for post grad; she wanted to get as far away from the Jackson legacy as she could.

Still, she could not deny the thrill of excitement she felt when she saw him. The last time he'd shown up, there had been a string of murders, Dr. Rayner had nearly been killed, and Dr. Gardner had vanished, only to return three years later claiming to have been on extended research leave. Things happened when Daniel Jackson came to town, and the prospect of that was infinitely more exciting than pottery chronology.

Halleigh knocked, even though the door was open and both doctors could plainly see her.

"Come in, Halleigh." Sarah said, gesturing to the empty second chair. "This is Dr. Daniel Jackson."

"Yes, I know." She replied, shaking his outstretched hand.

"I showed Dr. Jackson your necklace. He was very interested in it."

"He came to Chicago just to see a family heirloom?"

"Actually," cut in Daniel, "Sarah brought it to me in Colorado, and when we couldn't figure it out, we came here. And heirlooms are kind of our business."

"Colorado?" Halleigh exclaimed after nodding in concession to his point. "You took my necklace 1820 miles? And figure out what?"

"What it says." Sarah said calmly.

"I could've saved you the trouble." Halleigh said, wondering how on earth she was going to explain this conversation to her friends on Monday.

"You know what it says?" Daniel asked quickly.

"Um, yes." Halleigh faltered slightly, taken aback at how seriously Daniel was taking her. She was unaccustomed to adults treating her like this. "It's a good luck charm. The symbols in the middle are the lucky part, and the words around the outside are some sort of ancient, actually, I don't know what language it is. Anyway, it says something along the lines of 'Never look a gift horse in the mouth'."

"That's why we couldn't translate it!" Daniel exclaimed, punching Sarah's desk and causing both women to jump. "Idioms, clichés! They don't make sense because thought patterns are different in different languages. I mean, in English we say 'Once in a blue moon.' but in Spanish, the closest equivalent is 'Every time a monk dies'."

"So why couldn't Teal'c translate it?" Sarah said. "He should have been able to get the words in the right order, at any rate."

"He translates jokes for us sometimes. They don't make any sense."

"Excuse me," Halleigh cut in, a bit louder than she intended. "What is going on?"

Sarah and Daniel exchanged a long look.

"What I am about to tell you is classified under section 11C9 of the National Security Act. In 1928 , in Giza..."

------

If there was one thing Halleigh had learned during her almost four years at the University of Chicago, it was when not to interrupt people with the letters PhD after their names. Of course, Halleigh wasn't entirely certain she was physically capable of interrupting this particular lecture. It was taking every ounce of will she possessed to keep her mandible attached to the rest of her skull. Dr. Jackson's voice had lost most of its excitement, but Halleigh got the impression that he was not merely reciting by rote; very few people ever got to hear what she was hearing.

"So...you've been right. All along." Halleigh said when Daniel finished talking.

"Yes. I have."

"That really sucks. That you can't tell anyone, I mean."

"A little." Daniel stammered. "But that's not really the point. I need you to tell me everything you can about the necklace."

Halleigh looked down at the jewelry in her hands. 10,000 years old, he said. And Osiris was real, except he was an alien who, until recently, had lived in the body of her professor. And Daniel Jackson traveled to other planets.

"My grandmother gave it to me," she began, "She said that it should have been my father's, but that he wasn't much for silver. Then, she said that someday, someone would come for me, because of the necklace."

Daniel gaped at her.

"She was 89 and had senile dementia." Halleigh explained. "She said a lot of things. Some of which make an odd sort of sense now."

Daniel put his head in his hands and gestured that she should keep talking.

"Of course, the reason she couldn't give it to my father was that he and my mother were killed when I was six." She paused for a second. "Anyway, when Nana died, I was the only one left from her side. I got, among other things, her diary. That's where I read what the symbols mean."

"Do you have the diary?" Sarah asked.

"No." Halleigh said shortly. "A few years ago, one of my cousins, from my mother's side – they're the ones who adopted me – joined this whacked out cult in Seattle, of all places. He came home one weekend acting like a complete stoner, started a fire in my room in the middle of the night and then disappeared. About a week later, he showed up again with some story about brainwashing and how some guys from the Air For-"

This time, both doctors were staring at her.

"You need to come to the SGC with me." Daniel said. "Right now."

"I don't know you, you've just told me a really far out story, and I am in the middle of exams."

"Halleigh, you need to listen to me carefully." At any other time, Halleigh would have been offended if someone had spoken to her like that, but something about Daniel's tone gave him her complete attention. "I do not know why yet, but you and that necklace are way, way more important than you ever thought possible, and you have to come with me. Now."

There are times in life when one's gut shouts so loudly that one's brain is forced to accept that, regardless of how ridiculous a situation may seem, it is the absolute truth. A thousand chance events and random occurrences suddenly fell in order, and she knew.

And, to be honest, her curiosity was killing her.

"I'll go with you."


	4. Briefing

**Briefing**

We hid Horus in plain sight. The Goa'uld had spent centuries manipulating Taur'i mythologies, and it never even occurred to Seth that one of them might be true.

So Horus founded a dynasty descended from Osiris that would rule the land called Egypt for millennia. And the rest, as they say, is history.

If only they knew.

Seth was convinced that the Harceisis was under the protection of a Goa'uld, so we made a lot of noise in the Nile delta so that Seth would find out that he was not the only one of his kin marooned on Earth. Then, we fled. Suddenly, my godhead was much less inconvenient. Anukis was the protector of the Harceisis, and in Seth's eyes, the two were inseparable.

Idiot. Although, I suppose in hindsight I should be grateful.

We went to Greece and sought out a temple dedicated to the goddess Isis. We were a bit surprised to find out how globally popular our daughter was. We spoke alone with the high priestess and performed a few miracles before telling her point blank that her goddess needed her.

She was a bit overwhelmed, but since her faith dictated that she should serve her god, she agreed to host her god's mother. I left the body I had so loved for hers. Instead of clawing my way in, I went through the mouth. This was less painful, but infinitely more distressing. The most important thing though, was that it left no scar on my new host.

We buried the body in a shrine at the rear of the temple. If they were going to worship, then they may as well worship someone who deserved it. Then, we performed a quaint public ceremony wherein the locals actually saw their priestess become the goddess she had sworn to serve, and everything was in order.

Thus we became Euagora, a nice, obscure Nereid who, though divine, attracted almost no attention.

And Seth became Typhon, and the hunt was on.

------

Halleigh stood alone in the briefing room. She was supposed to be with Dr. Jackson, waiting to talk to the general, but an alarm had gone off and a voice had announced something called an 'Incoming Wormhole'. Daniel directed her to the window, told her to stay put and then left in a hurry. Halleigh watched as rank upon rank of soldiers entered the room below her. The seventh light on the stone circle all of the guns were pointed at glowed orange and a stream of well, something, shot out. Halleigh started, and by the time she'd calmed down, a metal circle covered the aperture. Then, at some signal she didn't hear, the soldiers relaxed and the metal opened. Halleigh barely had time to wonder at what held all the water in place when two figures stepped through it.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Halleigh spun around. A tall uniformed man with gray hair entered the room. "I'm Colonel O'Neill."

"Halleigh" she managed to get out. She turned back to the window in time to see the woman who must be Major Cater hugging one of the visitors and Daniel formally greeting the other. "Who are they?"

"The old guy is named Jacob and the woman is named Freya. I think." There was an odd note of disdain in the Colonel's voice. "They're Tok'ra and they have snakes in their heads, Selmak and Anise respectively."

"They look human."

"Jacob is. He's Major Carter's father. Freya I am not so sure about."

"And you don't like them." Jack raised an eyebrow slightly at her perceptiveness.

"They have a tendency to leave things out. I don't do well with surprises. but Jacob is a good friend and Anise and Freya know a lot about - stuff."

The party could be heard walking up the metal staircase to the briefing room now. Halleigh felt uncontrollably nervous, but managed to keep herself from falling apart. She didn't notice Jack's silent appraisal of her. He was impressed with her aura of togetherness, for all he knew it was a facade.

Once everyone was seated, Daniel made the necessary introductions, and then got down to business. He outlined his discovery on Abydos, the glyphs and what Halleigh thought they said.

"Excuse me, Dr. Jackson," cut in Anise. "I do not understand. Why is a equine mouth significant?"

"It's an expression. Horse's teeth never stop growing. If you look into it's mouth, you can tell how old it is."

"And age lessens the value." Anise finished, nodding slightly. Freya took over suddenly. "My people have a similar expression, but it does not involve horses."

Halleigh's eyes widened at the voice change, but she said nothing.

"I am sorry, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said. "I did not consider that an expression could translate this way."

"That's OK Teal'c. I didn't think of it either."

"So what does all this have to do with Setesh?" Jacob asked.

"Some of the people we talked to after we deprogrammed the Seattle cult said that Seth was looking for a chosen one, "Halla" or something like that." Sam explained. "We thought it was just standard cultic behaviour."

"But now we're not so sure." Daniel added quickly.

"You have good reason, Dr. Jackson." Selmak said. "The Tok'ra have many legends about The Halla."

"As do the Jaffa." Teal'c added.

"What's a Halla?" Jack asked.

"It is a name, Colonel O'Neill. It means 'unexpected gift'." Anise provided.

"Um, wait." said Daniel, turning to one of the half-dozen books he had brought with him.

"What is it, Doctor?" Hammond asked.

"In Norse, the Asguard based language, Halla means 'half protected'."

"What are you suggesting?"

"I think, sir, that Daniel means something protects The Halla." Sam said. "It might be so important that the Asguard themselves protect it."

"No, I don't think it's an it. I think it's a who." Daniel said. "Seth was jealous of Osiris and Isis, but he fought against Horus, their son."

"Are you saying Seth was looking for a Harceisis?" Jack cut in.

"Not a Harceisis, the Harceisis." Daniel clarified. "The actual translation is 'Son of Isis'."

"Why would Seth spend hundreds of years searching for the Harceisis? He would be mortal, even if a Goa'uld had taken over his body." Teal'c pointed out.

"That is true." Anise confirmed. "But the Goa'uld genetics would be passed on and with them, the genetic memory."

"So somewhere running around Earth is a genetically Goa'uld human?" Jack asked. Daniel shrugged.

"This brings up another question." Hammond said. "Even if we locate this Harceisis, the last one was too evil to use. Why is this different?"

"I think that's where the half protected comes in." Daniel said. "Sam, did you ever have a look at the notes Janet took during her autopsies of the symbiotes we recovered from those jars?"

"Yes, I did." Sam said. "There were a few genetic differences between them that she couldn't explain. She thought it might be gender related, but she never got to analyze them further. The Osiris autopsy was one of the last things she did before..."

"There is no genetic difference, Sam." Jacob said gently. "Gender is implied, not manifested."

"I have a suggestion, Major Carter." Anise said, puling out a file. "Dr. Jackson requested that I bring some of my research about Tok'ra genetics. This is the Tok'ra genome. All Tok'ra, including the Queen Egeria, posses the same genes and no others. The highlighted section is the mutation I believe causes the Tok'ra to become Tok'ra."

"You mean your conscience is genetic?" Jack asked.

"An accurate analogy." Anise nodded. "The mutation must breed true, or not all of Egeria's descendants would have become Tok'ra.

Samantha had been flipping through the files Daniel had handed her and comparing them to that provided by Anise. Daniel had offered no explanation as to why he had brought it to the briefing, nor why he had been so specific as to what Anise should bring. Somehow, Sam thought Daniel already knew the answers and was walking them all through it instead of just telling them flat out. A suspicion began to dawn on Major Carter.

"Osiris does not have the mutation. He was Goa'uld," she reported. "Isis on the other hand has it. She was Tok'ra."

"Ok, so 10,000 years ago, Isis has a kid and his descendant is running around Earth?" Jack said. "How are we supposed to find him?"

"His genetic code will be exactly half of Isis'." Anise said. "Her genes would have dominated Osiris' and would be the only ones passed on to the third generation. None of the Goa'uld inherent evil would remain."

"In English?"

"The genes from Isis would be passed to every descendant." Sam clarified. "Which is pretty spectacular when you think about the odds."

"Please don't."

"That's what the half is, then." Daniel said. "Shifu was inherently evil because he had full Goa'uld DNA. A Harceisis with half Tok'ra DNA..."

"Would carry the memories of the Goa'uld, but the Tok'ra mutation would negate the evil." Selmak finished, looking uncharacteristically excited. "General Hammond, it is imperative that we locate him."

"Actually, it isn't him." Daniel said, shooting a look down the table at Halleigh whose expression clearly indicated that she had been keeping pace with him. "It's a her. Seth found her and tried to kill her. In fact, if we hadn't broken up his cult, his second attempt would have succeeded."

"My father used to call me Halla." Halleigh said quietly, instantly attracting everyone's attention. "He said he anglicized it to come up with a name my mother would agree to, but he always called me Halla."

There was dead silence at the table.

"General," began Jack, "I propose that we trot this young lady down to the infirmary for what I am sure will he a completely unnecessary gene test, and then ship out to that address."

Hammond considered it for a few moments, regarding the people he sat with seriously.

"Very well, Colonel, you have a go. Major Carter, take Halleigh to the infirmary and then help her get geared up. Dr. Jackson, I want a full report of myths you think are relevant on my desk before you leave. Miss Madisen, I can't order you to do any of this-"

"I'm in, General Hammond."

"You leave as soon as the DNA results are in."


	5. The Horse's Mouth

**The Horse's Mouth**

If you're ever in search of a relaxing place to hide for your life, we recommend Bronze Age Greece. The weather is nice, the people are friendly, and there are more than enough caves, islands and mountain passes to conceal yourself in. The diet leaves a bit to be desired though. In Egypt, the empire was beginning to crumble, but Horus' line was intact, even if they were no longer kings. We didn't care what they did for a living, just that they had one.

The world was changing. Humans were becoming more advanced and began to rely less and less upon their gods. They invented wheels and math and sharper sticks and began to have more and more elaborately structured governments. Actually, it was sort of amusing to watch.

We leant a hand here and there, pointing out deposits of tin, turning kilns into smelting ovens, that sort of thing. The Greeks did not hold their women in very high regard, but they had no end of respect for their goddesses.

Seth was around and looking for us, but we managed to evade him and his human slaves. The fact that what they were looking for was on the other side of Mediterranean helped.

Once, when he was particularly close, we fled with the army. This turned out to be a tremendous mistake as the siege was quite protracted. Eventually, we flat out told them how to breach the walls just so we could go home.

A few centuries later, a blind poet came to out temple and sang the story of that war. It was dreadfully boring, so we gave him a few ideas on how to jazz it up. The second time he told it, he got a much better reception, and created a sequel that was even more fantastic.

Too late we realized that the poet's tales of love, war, horses and long trips home gave us a lot of attention. Seth circled in for the kill, but we had warning of his coming and fled again.

We traveled west until we came to a city with seven hills and a great river.

And there we stayed.

------

Anise of the Tok'ra was not jut another highly intelligent being. She was, in fact, two other highly intelligent beings. As such, she was very much aware of two things. Firstly, that the humans distrusted her because of the incident with the armbands and secondly, that the humans distrusted her host because of the incident...well, actually there were quite a few of them. The conclusion she had drawn from these two facts was most logical. She reasoned that, regardless of the validity of any suggestion she were to make in regards to Tok'ra technology, the humans would oppose her out of principle. If, however, the suggestion came from someone else, it might at least be taken under advisement. Granted, this was a roundabout way of accomplishing things, but the end, after all, did justify the means.

To serve that end, she made the suggestion that Halleigh might benefit from a Tok'ra memory scan to Selmak. Selmak told Jacob that it really was a very good idea and Jacob casually brought it to Sam over the pancakes they consumed in the lag time inevitably caused by the DNA sequencing test. Jack, who came into his 2IC's lab for a completely unnecessary status report just in time to hear her make the suggestion to Daniel, did not react well, but some fast talking from both scientists changed his mind from downright opposed to reluctantly resigned and he made the proposal to Hammond.

By this time, Daniel had told Halleigh about the procedure and how it worked, and Halleigh had agreed to try it. So it was that she found herself in a modified OR with Daniel and Anise while everyone else watched from the observation deck.

"This will be mildly painful." Anise warned as she prepared to attach the device to Halleigh's temple. Halleigh nodded, and then flinched as it was put in place.

"That's mild?" Daniel hid a grin.

"You need to relax." Daniel said. "Regulate your breathing and concentrate on your memories."

"I am activating the device." Anise announced. "You may ask your questions in a moment Dr. Jackson. Remember, Halleigh, that as real as your memories might seem, they are only images."

Anise pressed several buttons and the device hummed to life. Halleigh's reaction was immediate. The machines that were monitoring her heart rate and breathing spiked and her eyes looked panicked.

"It's hot, and it's hard to breathe. Daddy?" Halleigh's voice was no longer that of a young woman, it was the voice of a child.

"Halleigh, listen to me," Daniel said. "Where are you?"

"In my house." the real Halleigh was back. "The night of the fire. None of the doors would open. We couldn't get out. There was fire everywhere. My father carried me upstairs. My mother screamed at him, but he kept walking. He opened the window in the bathroom. I remember the fire appearing in the doorway behind us. He told me that I was the best daughter a father could have, and then he threw me out the window. We'd raked the leaves that morning and I'd played in the pile all afternoon. They were under the window."

"Halleigh, think further back," Anise said dispassionately. "What is the first thing you remember?"

"They were glad to see me, even though I was early. He was afraid that I wouldn't make it and kept saying 'My Halla' over and over again. She was in pain, but he held her hand and said it would be over soon. She pushed so hard." Halleigh paused. "It's going backwards in my head."

"You remember being born, even your birth trauma?" Anise said, more worked up that anyone had ever seen her.

"No. They aren't my memories. I'm not me. I'm him."

------

"We left her hooked up for as long as we could, sir. Any longer and there might have been brain damage." Sam said.

"Can we try again after Halleigh has had some time to recover?" Hammond asked, looking down the briefing table.

"That would be unadvisable, General Hammond." Anise said. "If Dr. Jackson is correct, there are thousands of years worth of memories. We barely scratched the surface."

"Although we did get a good recipe for boiled potatoes." Jack added lightly.

"Jack, thousands of people, and probably a fair number of your ancestors died during the Potato Famine," Daniel pointed out, sounding very much put upon. "A little respect, maybe?"

There was a knock on the door and Hammond admitted Dr. Warner.

"I have the DNA results, sir." he said, handing a file to Hammond and the other copy to Sam. "Miss Madisen has exactly half of her DNA in common with the Isis symbiote, but there are some abnormalities."

Hammond passed his copy to Anise, who examined it for a few minutes before speaking.

"It appears that Halleigh Madisen stores her memories the way in which the Tok'ra and Goa'uld do." She reported. "However, there have only been two, or at the most three, generations of us, so few memories have been encoded into the genetic code."

"How many human generations are there in 10,000 years?" Hammond asked.

"A lot, sir." Sam replied.

"The horse's mouth." Halleigh mused quietly.

"Okay, that's an image," said Jack, typically unhelpful. "How do we get to the bottom of it?"

"I do not know that we can, Colonel O'Nei-"

"Wait a minute," Sam jumped in. "Colonel, what was the first thing you did when you were born?"

"Well, there was a big barbeque and I couldn't have the steak because I didn't have any teeth," he said, somewhat sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "I don't know, Carter. According to my father, I screamed bloody murder."

"Right. And if you were crying, you were breathing."

"Do you have a point, Carter?"

"Who told you to breathe?"

"If I remember correctly, it just felt like the thing to do at the time." Daniel's quickly smothered cough sounded quite suspicious.

"Are you saying I've got instincts, Major Carter?" Halleigh asked.

"It could very well work that way, Halleigh Madisen." Teal'c said, speaking for the first time. "The Goa'uld have very strong instincts."

"As do the Tok'ra." Anise added.

"I don't like this." Hammond said flatly. "I don't want to risk my team and hope that some instinct saves them. Is there any way to test this?"

"No sir," said Sam. "But with all respect, we've done crazier things before."

"All right." Hammond took a long look at the unflinching Halleigh before continuing. "You leave in half an hour."

------

Halleigh walked into Daniel's lab, feeling incredibly awkward wearing a USAF uniform, to find him buried in a pile of books. Her knock received no response, but he did look up when she reached his desk.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Oh yes. It's been an odd couple of days, and I can't quite shake the 'We've told you, now we have to kill you.' feeling, but I'm okay." she paused for a second. "This Anubis guy you killed, was he like me?"

"A Harceisis? No. He was a normal, if complicated, Goa'uld. More or less." Daniel put down his book. "Out of curiosity, why do you ask?"

"Well, I read what Dr. Gardner told you, and she said that Osiris was in Nephthys' house for a year, while Isis hid and gave birth to Horus." She hesitated again. "And according to legend, which seems to hold bit more water than I thought a week ago, tells us that Horus had a half-brother."

"Right. Nephthys seduced Osiris and gave birth to Anubis," Daniel said. "But I don't think that actually happened. Anubis, or the being that took his name, was a symbiote."

"So who looked after Horus?" Halleigh demanded. "I mean, orphans don't just become kings. Someone had to be looking out for him. I thought Nephthys did it to cover for her own son."

"The gate was already buried and Nephthys was gone." Daniel pointed out. "But it's a good point."

"Okay, so the Goa'uld take hosts and then pretend to be gods." Daniel nodded. "And when they cross cultures, they retain most of their traits?"

"Seth did." Daniel said. "I guess it's easier than establishing the whole thing every time you move."

"Egeria was the Roman goddess of fountains and child birth, and also had the gift of prophecy."

"Yes, I know."

"So did Anukis. Except she was also the Protector of Kings, particularly the babies."

Daniel flew to his computer and began a search for goddesses with those traits.

"I've got Anukis, a Greek nereid called Euagora and Egeria." He reported after a few minutes.

"Can we put Seth in Rome?"

"Not exactly, but Romulus-"

"Killed Remus! Which is a bit of a-"

"There's no such thing as a stretch when you're dealing with mythology, Halleigh."

"All right then, we've got Grendel in Norse mythology. Are there any-?"

"No, but there's a god named Aegir. He's the god of water. She could have-"

"Taken a male host. The names are close."

"Whoa!" came the voice of Jack O'Neill who had been witnessing the lightning exchange from the doorway. "You know, some of us find it enlightening to speak in complete sentences."

"Sorry, Jack. It's just that-"

"Walk and talk Daniel. We don't want to be late for...whatever it is we're doing. Tell me, Halleigh, have you ever been demolecularized?"

"No Colonel, as a matter of fact I haven't."

"Don't worry. We'll catch you on the other end."


	6. Featherweight

**Featherweight**

It was really stupid. We told ourselves that over and over, but it didn't stop us. It just felt so nice! We had loved before, of course, but never like this. We had loved as a mother, and all mothers know that they must one day give up that which they hold dear. This was entirely different.

Of course, he was mortal and we were not. The full impact of this didn't really hit us until the morning we noticed his hair was going gray. We, naturally, were unchanged and he said that the grace of the gods must be on us. And we never told him he was right.

Still, we were deliriously happy and so we remained, right up until the moment when he drew his last breath, said our name and died in our arms.

And then there came the time of mourning. We were immortal and so was our pain. We left the great city we had helped to build and fled into the forest. And there, in the quiet of the trees, we went mad.

Madmen attract ridicule. Madwomen attract the wrong kinds of attention. Mad goddesses, however, really make the headlines, which was exactly what we had spent the last several thousand years avoiding at all costs.

So Seth descended upon us as we raved in the forest. And he set great fires to drive us out. But we escaped him and ran further into the wilderness. And we put aside our grief so that we would survive.

In the wild north, we were alone, and my host was old and tired. We finally found people, but they were strange. They were tall and fair and loud and unlike any other human we had seen. They too had legends of visitors from above, but we knew that it could not be the Goa'uld.

However strange these Northmen were, they welcomed us, and welcome was all we needed.

--------

Everyone had stories about their first time through the 'Gate. Sam remembered losing her lunch on Abydos, and the expression on her father's already pain ridden face when he'd first materialized on the Tok'ra home planet where he'd blended with Selmak. Jack never talked about his first time, but Sam had it on pretty good authority that he was blackmailing both Daniel and Feretti to keep them quiet about it.

Halleigh stood on her own two feet in front of the Stargate with a very odd expression on her face. She did not look like she was about to be sick or collapse. Jack was impressed. Most people's first trips were at least mildly embarrassing.

"We are so far away," she said, quite breathlessly.

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed. "The distance between Earth and this planet is most remarkable."

"It's a little disconcerting."

"You were just broken apart at the subatomic level," Sam pointed out.

"I know," Halleigh said. "But I can feel the distance."

Jack looked at her questioningly, but Teal'c was nodding.

"I understand, Halleigh Madisen. Chulak is far from Earth and I feel it at times."

"This is all very nice," Jack said. "But would someone like to hazard a guess as to where we are?"

"These symbols are Egyptian," Daniel said, running his fingers over one of the two obelisks which flanked the DHD. "It says 'Welcome...travelers...to the home of...Ma'at."

"Mot?" exclaimed Jack, raising his P-90.

"No, not Mot, Ma'at." Daniel emphasized the glottal stop. "That explains the origin chevron. It's not a hockey stick, it's a stylized feather."

"But he's still a Goa'uld?" Sam asked.

"_She_ is the Egyptian manifestation of wisdom and truth," Daniel explained. "She didn't take human form. Remember the feather? From Sha're's funeral?"

"Yes," said Jack, his eyes widening as he understood. "So we've come all this way to talk to a feather?"

"O'Neill!" called Teal'c, and pointed up to a nearby hill top.

A woman stood there. She was dressed in bright colours and her long white hair blew out around her. She was old, very old, but there was a strength in her eyes that made Sam's heart skip a beat.

"So, not so much a feather then."

"What now, sir?"

"She wants to talk to us," Halleigh said.

Jack took a very long look at the young woman, and then exchanged a glance with Sam. She looked back at him in a way that clearly said _I don't know. Why are you asking me?_

"Alright," Jack decided. "Let's go for a walk."

The woman, though within hearing range, said nothing and made no movement. She did not even react when SG-1 began to move towards her.

"Ma'at?" Daniel queried.

"Yes, Daniel Jackson, I am." The woman spoke in Abydonian.

"You know this woman?" Jack asked incredulously, recognizing Abydonian when he heard it, but only understanding Daniel's name.

"No, Jack O'Neill, he does not," Ma'at replied, this time in perfect English. "But I know of him, and of you."

"You're an Ancient." Daniel did not phrase it as a question.

"I am."

"But the Ancients were killed. They all died in the plague."

"Yes, Samantha Carter, we did. And the drinks are getting cold." Ma'at gestured towards a cabin Daniel was almost positive hadn't been there a few moments ago. "Shall we?"

Jack shouldered his P-90 and gestured grandiosely.

"Yes, yes we shall."

---------

It was not coffee. Not quite. It looked like coffee, it smelled like coffee and, to a degree, it tasted like coffee. But it could not be coffee, because coffee came from Earth, and this was not Earth. Of that much, Halleigh was certain.

Halleigh had been quiet unsettled by the journey through the Stargate, although for apparently all the wrong reasons. Her feelings had compounded as soon as she spotted Ma'at. Human beings, or at least those brought up in the West, are taught to actively disbelieve anything they cannot see and touch. Halleigh found herself knowing things she should not know. She knew exactly how far away from Earth she was. She knew who and what Ma'at was. She knew that what she was drinking was not coffee. And she had absolutely no idea how.

"You were Ascended once, weren't you?" Daniel was asking their hostess as he absently spread something that was not quite raspberry jam on something that was not quite a tea biscuit.

"Yes. Many years ago."

"How did you, uh, descend?" Jack asked.

"Jack, that's not really po-"

"It is all right, Daniel Jackson," Ma'at said, completely unruffled. "It is a tale you must know."

"So you brought us here to talk?"

"No. I will show you."

"How?" asked Sam.

"The Halla carries it with her." Halleigh's head snapped up at Ma'at's unexpected use of her nickname.

"But we've tried that," Sam said. "The memory retrieval technology couldn't - "

"The Tok'ra are wise, Samantha Carter," Ma'at said. "But even as their Goa'uld brethren, they only use the technology. They do not understand it. My race created the devices. I can program it much more accurately they anyone else can."

"You said you're going to show us. Does that mean you'll use the holographic part of the device?" Daniel asked. Ma'at nodded. "Isn't that intrusive?"

"Do not be concerned, Daniel Jackson," Ma'at reassured him. "The memories we see will not invade The Halla's privacy."

Daniel looked at Halleigh, who was completely calm. She nodded to him.

"We have to know, Dr. Jackson. I have to do this."

"Wait just a minute," Jack broke in. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd feel a lot more comfortable if you did some explaining before you hook anybody up to anything."

"As you wish, Jack O'Neill," Ma'at said in that same, unruffled tone.

"My people were dying. Our technology could not save us and the harder we tried to solve our problems with science, the more ill we became. Eventually, a group of us forsook our material existence, and though we were still sickened, we discovered that just before we died, we would cease to be.

"So we became the Ascended, and we stood watch over our people as the last of them succumbed. And our empire fell into ruin, because there was no one left.

"But then a group of aliens who were one kind of body and another kind of spirit moved into the vacuum. Using our technology, they began to take control of their space, conquering and enslaving as they went. They were, of course, the Goa'uld."

"Yes, we've heard of them," Jack said.

"I tried to rally my people against them. The Goa'uld were using our legacy to further their own ends, and I knew that it was wrong. But the Ascended had a strict non-interference policy, even then."

"Yes, we've heard of that too." Jack didn't quite glare at Daniel when he said it.

"I was overruled and told to toe the line, but I could not. I went to a Goa'uld laboratory and stole one single symbiote. I placed it in a sarcophagus - "

"A sarcophagus?" broke in Sam.

"Yes. A properly programmed sarcophagus can do far more than heal," Ma'at explained. "The healing mode is the default setting, if you will."

"At any rate, I programmed the sarcophagus to make a singe genetic alteration."

"You created Egeria," Teal'c concluded.

"I did. And then the Others caught me, and when I woke up, I was here."

"But you kept your memories!" Daniel sounded almost insulted.

"Of course I did, Daniel Jackson," Ma'at said deprecatingly. "I was much more powerful than you. And I had a few tricks up my sleeve."

"Are you immortal?" Jack questioned.

"More or less," Ma'at replied. "And now, it is time for The Halla to remember."

---------

Sam felt an unexpected chill run through her when she saw the holographic display. Despite the many painfully personal encounters with the memory device, the first one, tricked by Hathor's agents into believing that everyone she knew was dead, was the worst.

Halleigh had barely spoken since their arrival. At first, Sam had thought that it was because the girl was nervous, but now she wasn't so sure. There was an aura of absolute certainty around Halleigh and what's more, Sam got the impression that Ma'at was communicating with Halleigh in ways Sam couldn't even begin to imagine.

When Ma'at placed the memory device on Halleigh's temple, the girl did not even flinch. Jack wondered if it had something to do with Ma'at's superior knowledge and half hoped that the next Goa'uld who captured and tortured them would know the same things. Ma'at pressed a series of buttons, and the holographic screen hummed into operation. The old woman looked at Halleigh who nodded and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, they were old.

_A vat of symbiotes. The dark of a sarcophagus. A terrified young girl. That same girl, but now dressed in Egyptian style, adorned in gold and an expression of inhuman determination on her face. Egeria._

Halleigh shifted slightly in her chair, and the images faded. They were replaced quickly by others.

_Another woman was dragged towards a surgical table where a familiar jar stood waiting. She bore the scars of a horrible torture, but still was proud and unspeaking. In the shadows, Egeria watched, her face full of sorrow. In her arms, there was a baby._

Sam realized that the memories were playing without sound, and that her brain seemed to be adding her own commentary. Somehow, she knew that everyone was not hearing exactly what she was not hearing.

_And suddenly that baby was a man. Tall and strong and born to lead his people to freedom. And lead he did. One by one, he emptied the temples of all but their statues. Finally, he stood on the plateau at Giza and shouted his defiance as Ra departed to through the Stargate._

The hologram began to fluctuate and Halleigh moaned. Ma'at reached out to remove the device from Halleigh's temple and as soon as she did, the projector exploded. Jack reacted instinctively, shielding his eyes as he tried to get to the two women in the centre of the firestorm, but he couldn't see enough to do anything. He was aware that the other members of SG-1 were trying to do the same thing and gauged by what he was hearing that none of them were successful.

Then, there was a blinding flash, and they found themselves standing by the Stargate, but Ma'at, her house and the obelisks that served as her welcome mat were gone.

"What the hell was that?" Jack demanded.

"I think she was finished. She waited for us, and once we came, she could leave." Daniel said.

"She said she was immortal!"

"She is." Halleigh spoke with an absolute certainty. She did not have a mark on her, nor a hair out of place from the blast. In her hands she held a single perfect feather.


	7. Word Of Power

**Word of Power**

Being a man was very unsettling. Of course, since we had spent the better part of eight millennia as a female, this is understandable. When we thought about it, we realized that switching gender was actually a pretty good idea. Seth was a creature of habit, and since he had spent the last eight thousand years looking for a woman, it stood to good reason that he wouldn't stop now. If he laid eyes on us himself, he would know immediately, but his underlings would look right past us.

That didn't make it any less disconcerting.

The Northmen called us Aegir, god of water. The other "gods" only had holographic human form. In reality, which the Northmen never saw, they were small and grayish pink. They spoke a language quite unlike anything we had ever heard, but it did not take us very long to learn it. Necessity is a very good teacher.

They did not use the Stargate, though they knew that wormholes existed. We told them much about the technologies used by the Goa'uld in exchange for the shelter they gave us.

When we informed them that the Earth 'Gate was closed, but that Ra might one day return to take his revenge in ships, they decided to would take some humans themselves and set them up on distant planets. That way, if Ra destroyed the planet, the human race would survive.

The world grew more civilized. A baby was born far away, close to the land where we had hidden our legacy, and his coming was much heralded. Emissaries came from that southern land and were much affronted by their northern kindred.

And also, there came a being known as Loki.

We recognized him immediately, of course, and he us. So the Asgard gave us a ship and we fled the home we had grown to love. We left behind our beloved Isis, condemned to an eternity in a jar we could not free her from, and we left behind her son's descendants.

But as the stars flew past, we knew we had done well. When we found the planet Pangara, we knew we could make a home here. And when Ra's forces closed in around us, and they separated host from symbiote, we knew that we had gotten the last word.

For just before his arrival, we spawned our offspring: those who would rise against Ra.

-------

Perhaps the most annoying thing about P-whatever this planet was designated, was that the sun hadn't moved yet. Jack was aware that there was a perfectly logical explanation for this. The same face of Earth's moon always shone down on the planet it orbited, and the same face of Mercury always pointed at the sun. Carter had once tried to explain it to him, a long time ago on one of their very first missions. Jack had been paying attention to other things at the time. Since Jack instinctively looked all around him when something odd happened, one of the first things he noticed after the explosion of Ma'at's sitting room was that not only had the sun not moved, the clouds hadn't either. That threw logic out the window. Ancients, he decided, had no respect for anything.

"We have to go." Halleigh said quietly.

"Where?" said Sam.

"I don't know." Jack wondered absently why people with otherworldly knowledge always spoke in such an infuriatingly calm tone. At least she was still using contractions. "But I know how to get there."

"Uh, so do I, Jack," Daniel said.

"What?"

"There's only seven symbols left on the DHD," Daniel said. Sam strode over to have a look. "There's only one place we can go."

"He's right, sir." Sam ran her fingers over the blank sections of the DHD. "Unless we dial our manually, but somehow I doubt that will work."

Jack kicked at what he was beginning to doubt was the grass surrounding his feet, wishing, not for the first time, that people would stop meddling with his team. If Ma'at had just told him to go to the address, he would have gone. Well, there would have been an extended argument, involving a lot of sighing on his part, a lot of eye-rolling on Daniel's part, a lot of suppressed laughter on Sam's part and then Teal'c would get frustrated and make the decision for him, and then he would have gone. But no, she had to be all mysterious and pretentious. He hated being led around by the nose.

"Dial us out, Carter." He hated not making choices. "Teal'c, you and I go first. Carter and Daniel follow, and then Halleigh you're last. I don't want any surprises."

Sam didn't say anything out loud, but as she began to dial out, Jack could tell she didn't think the chances of that last part were very good.

The Stargate was in a very odd position, tilted about thirty degrees to the left. Teal'c, who usually stepped through the 'Gate right foot first and held his staff in his right hand, was able to remain upright. Jack, who happened to have walked through left foot first was not so lucky. With a strangled curse, he collapsed on to the ground. A few seconds later, Sam and Daniel emerged and Daniel, predictably, fell over as well. Teal'c had the presence of mind to catch Halleigh as she stepped through and by the time the wormhole shut off, Jack and Daniel were back on their feet.

"What the hell was that?" Jack demanded, picking up his hat.

"It appears the alignment of the Stargate has shifted, O'Neill." It was almost impossible to say for certain, but Jack was reasonably sure the Jaffa was laughing at him.

"Carter?"

"We'll be able to dial home, sir," she replied. "Might be a bumpy landing though."

"I keep saying they should put padding down on the ramp, but Siler always tells me that the treads of the MALP would tear it up." Jack disconsolately put his hat back on. "Daniel, where are we going?"

"Uh, that way." Daniel said after a moment of confused squinting. "There's a temple up there. I think."

"It's a temple," said Halleigh, sounding quite sure of herself.

"How-" Jack cut himself off as Halleigh handed back his dislodged binoculars. "All right, we head for the temple."

Without speaking, the three military members of SG-1 fanned out, weapons ready, with Daniel and Halleigh behind. With his attention firmly on the rocky ground in front of him, Daniel wove his way around the moss covered rocks strewn across the path.

"Dr. Jackson," Halleigh said. "These stones are worked. I think they used to be a road."

"Jack," Daniel called ahead. "I don't think we want to walk here."

"What?"

"I, we, think that this used to be a road of some sort. Probably the Processional Way between the 'Gate and the temple. There must have been an Earthquake, and it was never repaired, but I still don't think we want to walk here."

Jack nodded and began to scan the side of the way for the best cover. The planet, on at least the viewable parts thereof, was covered in trees and the ground was spotted here and there with what appeared to be ferns. Arbitrarily, though he would never admit that, Jack selected the left and everyone followed him off of the road. Daniel kept half an eye on Jack, half on the ground at his feet, and the rest on the roadway, ever addicted to ancient architecture.

At the front, Jack held up his hand and everyone stopped. When he was sure that he had all of their attention, Jack motioned to get down, and crawl up beside him. The others crept up to the slight hill Jack was perched on for the lookout. Sam expelled her breath in a noiseless whistle.

The temple was in much better shape than it had appeared from the 'Gate. Its columns were in traditional Egyptian lotus style; tall and wide and covered in hieroglyphics. To Daniel and Halleigh, who knew something of how Egyptian temples should look like, it was fabulous. Jack thought it was a tad overdone, Sam was leaning towards downright garish and Teal'c was uncomfortably reminded of things past.

Sam's non-whistle, however, was not prompted by the architectural marvel in front of her. Rather, it was the four dozen or so staff weapon wielding Jaffa who stood in formation on the monumental staircase that led from the ground to the main temple platform.

"It's amazing," gasped Halleigh, unable to let the moment pass without saying something.

"I know," Daniel whispered back.

"Children," Jack rebuked them with a hiss, "Quiet."

"Sir, I really don't think we can deal with this many Jaffa," Sam pointed out, rather unnecessarily.

"Indeed, O'Neill." Teal'c agreed. "We should fall back."

"No, wait," Halleigh said. "We're supposed to do something here. Now."

"There are almost fifty Jaffa on those stairs!" Jack exclaimed, still whispering. "What do you suggest we do, talk to them?"

Daniel happened to be looking directly at Halleigh when Jack made his off the wall suggestion and he could not explain what he saw in her eyes.

"Yes, Colonel, we should talk to them. I know exactly what to say."

"What?" said Jack, and before he quite realized what was happening, Halleigh had stood and began walking towards the temple.

Somehow, though Halleigh did not appear to have quickened her pace, none of SG-1 managed to catch her before she reached the clearing in front of the temple. Halleigh strode nonchalantly into plain view of the Jaffa who guarded the great stairs. There was a moment wherein nothing happened. SG-1 stood, aghast, still concealed in the foliage, Halleigh stood calmly, her hands open at her sides, and the Jaffa on the steps waited for their orders.

"Jaffa! Kree!" barked the First Prime, the sunlight gleaming off his branded forehead.

As six Jaffa descended the steps towards Halleigh, Jack tensed, ready to spring into action. Daniel laid a hand on his arm and shook his head.

"No, Jack," he said. "She's right. This is supposed to happen."

Jack looked at him as though he too were crazy, and to be honest, Daniel wasn't entirely sure of his own sanity at that exact moment. But he had seen Halleigh's eyes, and he knew something of how the Ancients worked. This was supposed to happen.

The Jaffa had reached Halleigh now, and lowered their staff weapons at her. The First Prime should just outside of their circle.

"Who are you that would seek audience with my goddess?"

"Goddess?" hissed Jack in Daniel's ear. "There's a snake here?"

"Nephthys," Daniel hissed back. "That's her glyph, the basket and house."

"If I couldn't build a better house than that, I'd take up turnip farming."

"It's stylized, Jack."

"Colonel," Sam broke in, "Look!"

More Jaffa were coming down the steps. They had not been ordered and their movements were strangely wooden. It was as though they couldn't help but move closer to Halleigh.

"I do not come to worship your goddess, for she is false," Halleigh said. Her voice seemed somehow altered.

"Oh boy," said Jack. Again he readied himself to spring to Halleigh's defense and again Daniel stopped him.

"I came to see you." Halleigh continued.

"Why?" said the First Prime, not half as affronted as Jack expected him to be.

"Because I can give you something she cannot."

"What is that?"

"_Derora_." She said it only quietly, but it seemed to echo forever.

As Teal'c gasped, reaching unconsciously for his stomach, and the Jaffa on the steps wavered as though hit by a shockwave, a shriek emanated from the temple. Sam could only assume that the sound come from Nephthys, but she knew without a doubt that it was a cry of pure fury. Halleigh turned away from the temple and walked back towards the underbrush where SG-1 was concealed. The Jaffa let her pass without question, milling around and drifting away into the woods in twos and threes.

"What the hell was that?" Jack practically spat when Halleigh got close enough.

"I'm sorry Colonel, it was just something that had to be done." Halleigh had the grace to sound genuinely contrite.

"But what did you do?" Sam asked.

"She freed them," Teal'c said in an uncharacteristically awed tone. He inclined his head. "Halla."

"With one word?"

"That was Isis' gift Jack," Daniel explained, his tone too was awed. "She spoke the Word of Power and the enemies of the gods were quelled. Halleigh said 'freedom' and somehow, they were free."

"Time out," Jack cut in. "Are you telling me that all we have to do is trot this young lady out every time we run across a Jaffa and she'll take care of it for us?"

"No," said Halleigh. "It doesn't work that way."

"Of course it doesn't."

"I think it has something to do with Nephthys herself. I felt a surge of hatred and power just before I spoke."

"Sir!" Sam called, pointing towards the temple.

The unmistakable hum of Goa'uld technology powering up could be heard and felt. Whatever Nephthys was planning, it was going to be big.

"O'Neill!" yelled Teal'c over the increasing noise. "I do not think we should enter the temple. We should draw Nephthys out."

"And how do you propose we do that?"

"Oh my god!" Daniel exclaimed suddenly.

"What?" barked Jack.

"I am such an idiot."

"Daniel!"

"Seth!" Daniel was gesticulating wildly now, looking at Halleigh. "Seth was jealous of Osiris because Nephthys wanted Osiris over him. So he tricked Seth, killed him, and then Isis conceived Horus only to be betrayed again by Nephthys."

"Oh my god!" Halleigh said, her eyes wide as realization dawned on her.

"Is this required by your profession?" Jack demanded, but neither of the archaeologists were paying attention.

"Horus was supposed to take revenge!" Halleigh finished. "That's why Isis created him. My memories aren't to destroy _the _Goa'uld, they're for _specific_ Goa'uld."

"You aren't Tok'ra, you're Tok'set." Jack looked around. "I can't believe I just said that."

"As soon as I'm in front of her, I'll remember the words."

"For sure?" Sam asked.

"Well no," Halleigh admitted. "Got a better idea?"

"Not really."

"How's your Ancient Egyptian?" Daniel asked.

"A bit sketchy, why?"

"Is it good enough to provoke a goddess into leaving her temple and coming out to face you?"

"Oh yes," Halleigh said grimly. "The first words you learn in any foreign language are the swear words, and most of them can be turned into insults. I can deal."

Halleigh walked back out to the clearing and mounted the stair. About half way up, she stopped and began to yell things in a language Jack could not understand. Teal'c's eyebrows raised up higher with each epithet, and Daniel became to turn darker and darker shades of pink.

"I take it she's not insulting the exterior decorator?" Jack said.

"No, not really," Daniel choked out.

"I do not think that Halleigh Madisen has a good grasp of human anatomy, Daniel Jackson. Much of what she says is physiologically impossible." Teal'c said. Daniel turned even pinker.

"Sir, shouldn't we cover her or something?" Sam asked pointedly.

"Right." Jack thought about it for a few moments. "Fan out. Carter, go left. Teal'c the right. Daniel, stay here with me. We break cover only on my signal, but be ready for anything."

As they deployed themselves, a voice began to scream back at Halleigh. It grew louder, and then the doors of the temple burst open. Standing on the threshold was a figure dressed in traditional Egyptian garb. Her eyes glowed and Sam instinctively raised her P-90, even though she knew that the Goa'uld would have a shield.

"Harceisis!" The goddess cried in her great and terrible voice. The few Jaffa who remained in the clearing quailed visibly. "You dare to come here? To disrupt my rule?"

"I should have thought that was fairly obvious," Halleigh replied. Teal'c wasn't positive, but he thought Halleigh risked a glance at him and winked.

"Your defiance means nothing to me," Nephthys shouted, fingering her hand device. "You are mortal, nothing in my eyes."

"Then stop me," Halleigh said.

"I will. I will end my idiot sister's treachery. I will end your pitiful life and the lives of those who would guard you. I will rule my domain unchallenged."

Halleigh turned her head a bit, trying to see Jack and Daniel, but not stupid enough to turn her back on the seething Goa'uld only a few steps above her.

"You're right, Colonel," she called out. "They do need drama coaches."

Nephthys began to climb down the stairs and Halleigh turned back to her, completely focused. Daniel craned his neck to see more than the back of Halleigh's head, but Jack pulled him back. On the steps, Halleigh closed her eyes and 10,000 years of memories flashed through her mind.

Ra was false. Ra was evil. Those who followed him were cruel. Those who stood against him, brave. Those who knew the words to speak held the power.

Her eyes opened and she beheld the goddess who would descend upon her.

"Sha'tok'ra!" she cried out in her own voice.

Nephthys smiled and extended her arm. The hand device began to glow.

"Sha'tokr'a!" she cried in the voices of her ancestors.

Nephthys took one more step down the grand staircase and laughed, her voice disdainful.

The last piece fell into place. The Taur'i were not against Ra, they were in spite of him.

"Sha're!"

And from her body burst forth a light so brilliant that none could look upon The Halla for all her glory. And the temple of the false goddess Nephthys was engulfed in the light, and the sound of her agonized screams filled the air. And the earth shook, and the rocks began to fall. And the light dimmed, and those who watched again beheld The Halla. And when the light went out, the temple was gone.

And The Halla collapsed upon the broken steps.

-------

TBC


	8. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

The debriefing went on for hours. This was understandable as, even by SGC standards, it had been a very unusual day. Anise and Selmak had asked dozens of questions which Halleigh could not answer, leaving all parties frustrated. Warner, who had commandeered all of the travelers immediately upon their return, delaying the meeting for almost two hours, finally pulled rank when Daniel poured himself his seventh cup of coffee, and Hammond dismissed them to get some sleep. Anise protested, but Freya had stepped in, literally silencing her.

It had been more than 24 hours since Halleigh had slept, and she was completely exhausted. As she followed Major Carter to the VIP room she would be crashing in, she tried to come to grips with what she'd seen, done and said the past day. During the debriefing she had spoken only when no one else could tell the story, not just because she was tired, but because the was mentally overwhelmed. She had so many thoughts in her head now, and most of them weren't even her own. She hoped it would all sort itself out by morning, but she really doubted it. And for all she knew, it was morning.

She was vaguely aware that Sam was wishing her good night, and telling her to sleep herself out. She replied appropriately, but was so deep in her haze that she could not remember what she had said. The door closed behind her and she collapsed on the bed, letting the darkness take her.

--------

Daniel looked up when he heard a knock at his door. He'd been halfheartedly rearranging the mess in his lab, but since he hadn't yet decided how he was going to file this, he wasn't making headway. Essentially, he was cleaning up so he wouldn't have to write his official report, a report he was reasonably certain was better suited to a child at bedtime than to a ranking officer at the Pentagon. Still, protocol was protocol, and currently, protocol was indicating that he should admit whoever it was that was knocking.

Halleigh came in and took a seat in the empty chair. She looked around the Goa'uld symbols that were still cluttered everywhere. She was wringing her hands in her lap, obviously at a loss as to where to start.

"How's your head? Daniel asked after a few minutes silence.

"Noisy," she replied. "But I'm starting to sort it out. I think."

"Are the memories still surfacing?"

"Oh yes," Halleigh snorted. "I can't build Goa'uld ships or give coordinates to planets, hell, there are moments when I don't even know who I am, but I have so many people's lives in my head!"

"Maybe the Goa'uld in you only surfaced because you needed it." Daniel said. "Maybe it's the human in you that are the memories you need."

"You know, you might be right," Halleigh said after a few minutes. "I hated Nephthys the moment that I yelled at her, and the hate was what made the word so powerful. But there was another power, one that wasn't quite as scary, and it made me human again as soon as I'd spoken. When you get right down to it, it was the human, not the Tok'ra who prevailed on those steps."

"Yes," Daniel said quietly, looking off into the distance. "She was happy when I told her what her name meant. She said then that it must have been Fate that sent me to her after all."

There were a few more minutes of silence.

"You know, technically I am still on the list of advisors a graduate student at the University of Chicago can request as a supervisor." The message had been waiting on his machine when he got home. It was Sarah's trump card. "There haven't been many takers lately, but if a student didn't mind studying off campus and giving up chance of fame in scholarly circles..."

"And staying in the proximity of the USAF in case she remembers anything of relevance?"

"Well yes, there is that. But really, how many other people are going to have their PhD in Genetic History? I mean, you've got people in your head who actually lived through the rise and fall of Empires. It's an archaeologist's dream come true."

Halleigh smiled. "Yes, I suppose it is."

--------

**finis**

**--------**

**Author's Notes**

OK, the story is over, you don't actually have to read this. But before you click away, I would like you to know that I did not write this story lightly. I put literally hours of research into it, often changing plot points to fit the actual history (or, alternatively, crowing when they fit perfectly together). I consulted more sources for this story than I did for the papers I wrote for my second year of university (please never tell my mother that). I also took pleasure in recreating what I hope is a classical myth in fanfiction form. Most of these notes made it into the story in conversation, but some of it only provided the background. That being said, here comes the lecture.

One day in April, while I was working in a chronically empty bookstore, I thought to myself, "If the Goa'uld are inherently evil because of their genetic code, and they reproduce asexually (ie no recombination of genes), how do we get Tok'ra?" This story is the direct result of that question.

**Background Information**

The Goa'uld are inherently evil because of their genetic code (which never changes due to their asexual reproduction), so what if the Tok'ra came to be because the queen (Egeria) who literally spawned the movement had a genetic mutation that undermined her inherent evilness? Then the Tok'ra would genetically different from the rest of the Goa'uld.

Furthermore, the Harceisis Shifu could not be used because he was inherently evil. Halleigh, however, not only has human heritage, but is the descendant of the Isis, who I took the liberty of making a Tok'ra. When Fraiser conducted her autopsy of the Osiris symbiote and compared them to the Isis one, she noted some discrepancies, but died before she could figure out what the difference meant. Dr. Jackson used her notes when putting the pieces together before the briefing (Chapter 4).

Halleigh, therefore, is not dangerous (to humans) because she carried the Tok'ra mutations. We know this, because the Tok'ra mutation must breed true, or not all of Egeria's offspring would have been good.

The sarcophagus must enhance the non-mutated gene in the Goa'uld and even bring it out in non-Goa'uld genomes (presumably, if they can live in a human being, there must be some genetic commonality between Goa'uld and human), making them more Goa'uld-like.

"Halla" in Egyptian means unexpected gift. In Norse it's half-protected and in Arabic it is glory. "Halleigh" means hero in Scandinavian, but hay field in English (like Wesley meaning west field). I guess we can't have everything.

I began with Anukis, the Egyptian goddess of the lower Nile, Protector of women in childbirth, and giver of life to the King (in particular, the infant Horus while Isis was away looking for Osiris). Egeria was the Roman goddess of women in childbirth who loved a mortal man. When he died, she went mad with grief and cried in the woods for months. Eventually, Diana got so annoyed with her, that she turned Egeria into a fountain to shut her up. So there's your connection, Jack! Euagora served the plot by being a Nereid, which kept the water theme on track, by having a similar name to Egeria, and by being fairly non-descript, which was exactly what I needed. Aegir caused me quite the headache, not because he is male, but because as I was cruising through the transcript of "New Order" (we are just starting to get season seven in Canada), I discovered that Aegir is one of Thor's flunkies, and by then it was too late to change the story. It is, I think, my biggest break with canon.

Both Seth and Typhon are taken directly from Stargate ("Seth"). I added Romulus (who is actually a hero in the myth) and Loki, because I needed to have him in Rome and with the Asgard. Romulus killed Remus over a flock of vultures and Loki is a mischievous god who torments everybody, but most particularly Thor.

Conveniently, pre-dynastic Egyptian King Lists have gods down as rulers, and had them reign for very, very long times. Eventually, the "Followers of the Falcon God" (ie humans who worshipped Horus) took over.

The Osiris myth is one of the classics, and can be found just about anywhere. In my version, Ra was annoyed with Osiris, but had a rebelling planet to deal with, so he asked Seth to take care of it. Seth tricked Osiris, and put him in a sarcophagus, the one thing he was not supposed to do, as a sarcophagus ensures life. Isis, seeing her chance, tracked down the sarcophagus, opened it a bit too early, and conceived Horus while Osiris could not prevent her (use your imagination). Nephthys, who had seduced Osiris herself and who had originally helped Isis, found out what had happened and betrayed Isis to Ra, thus earning his favour. Ra ordered Osiris and Isis entombed in the jars and then allowed Nephthys to leave through the 'Gate, but condemned Seth to stay behind and not leave until the boy was dead.

And the people of Earth rebelled and buried the 'Gate. And Horus established a line of kings...

"Ma'at" is a concept, not a god. She appeared in the Egyptian pantheon, but had no anthropomorphic form, instead always appearing as a feather. My Ma'at was an Ancient. She prevented her death by ascending. When she saw what the Goa'uld were doing, she felt that the Ascended should step in, but was overruled. So she took a single symbiote and placed it in a sarcophagus, which she programmed to make one genetic alteration: the Tok'ra mutation. She returned the symbiote, was caught by The Others and descended. Still, since she was dumb, she kept a few cards up her sleeves. She is still immortal, and now, all she has to do is wait....

Isis' deal, as Daniel pointed out, is that she spoke the Word of Power that brought Osiris back to life. Since most things in mythology have opposites, I figured that if she has one word that can bring life, she must have one that can bring death, so I gave her one.

Sha'tok'ra means "Rise Against Ra". One day over at Kree! (all of whom were amazingly supportive during this), SG was asking about name meanings and interpretations and ironies thereof. I rattled on for way longer than was necessary about SG-1, and eventually translated Sha're literally as "rise Ra". Theoretically (and linguistically; the verb "to be" is implied in most early Middle Eastern languages), if one is being pious, the correct translation is "Ra is arisen". Since the Tok'ra (or mine, anyway) like to hide things in obvious places, however, I had Sha're translate as "Rise up" or "Arise", both of which imply rebellion against Ra.

And since I am a huge Daniel/Sha're fan, I like the karma involved in Sha're being the Word.

**The Style of Writing **

Eventually, I realized that the myths essentially tell the same story over and over again, and putting them into the story through Daniel or Halleigh would make a lot of pointless dialogue. Since I already had a lot of pointless dialogue, I was desperate for a solution. I hit on the idea of telling Egeria's story from Egeria's point of view (kind of like the "Morgaine Speaks" parts of MZB's "The Mists of Avalon"), and suddenly everything made much more sense. Additionally, it let me make Halleigh's story more fantastic and less scientific. And I got to play around with high style, which is always fun. On that note, the more astute of you will notice that I shamelessly rip off a bunch of people in this. From JRR Tolkien to Douglas Adams, and from David Eddings to the Bible, even the layout of the Temple at Luxor. These are my inspiration, and my imitation is meant as flattery.

I realize I have some serious Time problems here. Egeria has to be on Earth and creating mythologies in enough time that Isis can be killed in 8,000BCE (10,000 YBP). Then Egeria has to be in Greece by about 3000BCE so she can set up the Greek myths. 1000BCE requires her presence in Rome, which borrowed most of its myths from the Greeks, but causes me the first real problem. If the Trojan war was fought under Agamemnon, it likely happened around 2500BCE. Homer, however, lived in 700BCE. Since I was unwilling to give up that section of the story, I effectively broke my own canon (Homer never left Greece, and thus could not have traveled to a Roman temple, where Egeria would have been at the time). I figured it was worth it. Anyway, after Rome, Egeria flees to the Norse, who were just beginning to come into their own. She takes a male host, claims sanctuary with the Asgard, and then leaves the planet, spawns a rebellion and gets herself captured by Ra on Pangara around just after the year 0. It's tight, but I think it's workable.

We are AU for one reason, and one reason only: I needed Jack O'Neill in the field. This was a necessity, because I needed someone to ask questions, and listen to Daniel. The decision to step AU unleashed the flood, and I found myself dealing with an intact Tok'ra alliance, Hammond, no promotions, and a fantastic situation on Abydos.

Oh, and The Horse's Mouth thing was supposed to be a throw-away joke. Once. And it ended up defining the whole story. It's weird how those things turn out.

**Random Archaeological Information **

Obsidian is a volcanic rock that begins to react with water and oxygen as soon as it crystallizes, forming a thin film on its surface. This is measurable, and called Obsidian Hydration. When the stone is worked, the film is chipped off and a new one begins to form, making it datable to the last time it was retouched. The technique can be used for both absolute and relative dating. The best date range is 10,000 years.

Pottery is incredibly important for archaeologists. The changes in technology and manufacture provide a relative chronology that most other artefacts can be placed in. Pots were the ancient equivalent of toothbrushes in that everyone used them, they had a finite period of use, and people kept coming up with a better way to make them. Also like toothbrushes, pottery is dead boring.

Abydos, or the one on Earth anyway, is still the site of an active Osiris cult.

Isis worship was universal. If you look at some Pompeian frescoes, you can see the shaven heads of her priests.

I used an atlas, a protractor and a calculator to figure out the distance between Chicago and Colorado, but I don't remember which part of Colorado I used. It was probably Colorado Springs.


End file.
